Colorado's Roofing Deductible Law in Plain English: Why 'We'll Cover Your Deductible' Is Illegal

Colorado law is blunt about this one: a residential roofing contractor may not pay, waive, rebate, or promise to pay, waive, or rebate any part of your insurance deductible. That is C.R.S. 6-22-105, and it has no loopholes for "marketing credits," "free upgrades worth your deductible," or invoices quietly padded to absorb it. A contractor who opens with a deductible offer is proposing to break state law — which tells you everything you need to know before they touch your roof.

What the law actually says

C.R.S. 6-22-105 sits inside Colorado's residential roofing statute (C.R.S. 6-22-101 through 6-22-105), passed in 2012 after hail years brought waves of door-to-door roofing sales to the Front Range. The deductible section prohibits a roofing contractor from:

Paying your deductible
Waiving it
Rebating any portion of it back to you
Promising or advertising any of the above

The "promising or advertising" language matters. The violation happens at the offer, not at the payment. A yard sign or door pitch that says your deductible is covered is already on the wrong side of the statute.

Why the law exists: the math has to break somewhere

Say a roof claim settles and your policy carries a deductible. The insurer pays the covered amount minus the deductible; your share is the deductible. Now a contractor offers to make that share disappear. There are only two places the money can come from:

The insurer — the contractor inflates the invoice so the carrier unknowingly pays the deductible too. That is a misrepresentation of the cost of repairs on an insurance claim: fraud, with your name on the paperwork.
Your roof — the contractor quietly removes the deductible's worth of value from the job. Thinner underlayment, skipped ice-and-water shield, reused flashings, a rushed crew. You paid for the discount in materials you will never see.

There is no third option. A deductible offer is always one of those two, and both end badly for the homeowner.

The same statute gives you two more protections

While you have the statute open, its neighbors are worth knowing:

Written contract required (C.R.S. 6-22-103). A residential roofing contract must be in writing and state the scope of work, the cost, and the contractor's contact information. No handshake scopes.
72-hour rescission after a denial (C.R.S. 6-22-104). If your insurer denies the claim in whole or in part in writing, you may cancel the roofing contract within 72 hours of receiving that notice, and the contractor must return your payments.

So how do people actually handle the deductible?

You pay it — it is your contractual share of the loss, and it is subtracted from the insurer's payments no matter which contractor you hire. What is completely legal is spreading it out: financing the deductible through a legitimate lender is normal, and we walk through the options on our financing page, which covers the same statute from the payment side.

If a contractor has already pitched you a deductible deal and you want a second opinion on the whole claim, talk to us — we will inspect the roof for free and price the job the legal way, in writing.

The deductible offer as a screening tool

Here is the practical use of all this: the deductible pitch is the single fastest storm-chaser filter Colorado homeowners have. You do not need to check references or research a company to evaluate it. Someone offered to break a statute in their opening pitch; the conversation is over. Our contractor verification checklist covers the rest of the vetting — but this check runs itself.

And if the pitch was aggressive or repeated, report it. The Colorado Attorney General's consumer protection office takes complaints about exactly this behavior, and the statute exists because enough homeowners did.

FAQ: Colorado's deductible law

Is it legal for a roofer to waive my deductible in Colorado?

No. C.R.S. 6-22-105 prohibits a residential roofing contractor from paying, waiving, rebating, or promising to pay, waive, or rebate any portion of your insurance deductible. The prohibition covers the workarounds too — advertising credits, inflated invoices that absorb the deductible, and rebates after the fact are all the same violation dressed differently.

Why does Colorado ban contractors from covering deductibles?

Because the money has to come from somewhere. A contractor who eats your deductible either inflates the invoice the insurer pays — which is insurance fraud — or cuts the same amount out of your roof in thinner materials and faster work. The law, part of Colorado's residential roofing statute passed in 2012, closes the sales pitch that funded both.

Do I really have to pay my deductible on a roof claim?

Yes. The deductible is your contractual share of the loss, and under a replacement-cost policy the insurer's payments are calculated with it already subtracted. If paying it at once is a strain, financing the deductible through a legitimate lender is legal and common — that is completely different from a contractor absorbing it.

What should I do if a roofer offers to cover my deductible?

Decline and move on. A contractor who opens by proposing something Colorado law expressly prohibits is telling you how the rest of the job will go. If the offer came with a signed contract, note that Colorado requires roofing contracts to be in writing with scope and cost stated (C.R.S. 6-22-103), and consider reporting the pitch to the Colorado Attorney General's consumer protection office.

Work with a contractor who quotes it straight

Red Hawk Roofing prices every job in writing, works your insurance claim by the book, and will never touch your deductible — because the law says so, and because the version of the job where we did would be a worse roof. We are licensed and insured, GAF Certified and TAMKO Pro Certified, with a 5-year workmanship warranty on every installation.

Get a free inspection and a written scope, or call (720) 771-8921.

This article summarizes C.R.S. 6-22-101 through 6-22-105 as general information, not legal advice. The statute text is publicly available through the Colorado General Assembly if you want to read it in full.